Sunday, March 23, 2008

Allelulia! The Lord Is Risen

John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Looking for Strawberries

I've been following the goings on between the Sea Shepherds and the Japanese whaling fleet. The latest news from the activists is;
Mr Watson said two crew from his protest ship Steve Irwin covertly planted tracking devices on the harpoon ship Yushin Maru No.2 when they boarded it mid-ocean on January 15, sparking a three-day standoff as they were held on board.

I'm incredulous that they have actually planted a homing device on the ship for the following reasons;
1. How is it powered? Sure, you could have a battery powered transmitter but it wouldn't last very long. To provide enough juice to make it last long enough to be worthwhile, you would need something the size of a car battery. The problem they pose is that they are heavy and too large to conceal on your body.

2. Where is it's antenna? Ships are made of metal and metal is notorious for blocking transmissions. So unless the crew of the whaler allowed the protesters go aloft to install one, the device would have to rely on an internal antenna.

The main reason that I don't believe the Sea Shepherds is;

3. They talked about it! They broke a major rule in intelligence; don't reveal your sources and methods. If this thing was so effective in leading them to the fleet, why on Earth would they tell anyone about it?

My feeling is that the whole thing was a ruse to jerk the whalers' chain in the hopes of making them tear the ship apart looking for a non-existent tracking device.


An extra pat on the back to anyone who can cite the reasoning behind the title of this post.